


Evenings

by secondsofhappiness



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Family Feels, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 21:39:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8550067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondsofhappiness/pseuds/secondsofhappiness
Summary: Aaron was staring at her with eyes narrow and amused. "You,” he said with a nod in her direction, “use your brain that much and it’ll go into shock. What you thinking about anyway?”She frowned, grabbing a sweet and unwrapping it. “None of your business.” She threw it up, catching it in her mouth. -------Liv POV. Little snapshot of an evening in the pub post-SSW and pre-bonfire night.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for the three of them in any configuration and wanted a stab at writing from Liv's POV. I think she's a smart kid, really, and she's sometimes weirdly so much like Aaron and Robert with her "I will pretend I don't like you even if I really love you" attitude.
> 
> I wrote this a while back post-SSW and pre- bonfire night but it still fits in nicely - I hope! Enjoy :)

That was it. She was eating the entire bowl of Halloween sweets and no way was she going to feel bad about it.

The past week had been the worst for a long, long time and judging by the fact the past year had been an epic shit show of misery, that was saying something.

Aaron was home though and aside from a few visible cuts and bruises, the fact he took ten minutes to climb the stairs and hugged her with only one arm to avoid the stitches, everything felt normal again. 

Liv watched through the door from the stairs, lolly sticking out of her mouth. The lounge was lamp lit and she could make out Aaron’s silhouette against the glare of the TV. Robert was fussing about, his shadow visible in the kitchen against the glass of the window. Liv smiled.

She loved evenings in the pub when the punters started to drift home and everything got quieter. Now that Cain was gone and Charity was, well, somewhere else, it felt a little less crowded and a little more like a family.

It was weird. She’s never felt like this before. Her mum had always had to try really hard, always forcing the happiness at Christmas and pretending that perfection was easily achieved by spending too much and a plastering on smile even if she did spend half the day in her dressing gown and popped pills to keep her going. This was different though. It wasn’t perfect. She was living in the middle of nowhere with people she barely knew and a brother she’d only just found, yet it felt brilliant. 

Robert was a surprise too. He was a bit of a dick; he was also pretty great. She knew only too well the pain of people pretending to care and too little about the kind of fierce devotion that Robert brought to the table. He was blunt with it, always telling her what to do and even when she tried to play him, he was always the one who stayed a few steps ahead. She’d won a couple of times but he seemed more and more switched on as time went on; it barely felt worth it to try to get one over on him anymore. He was an annoying with his suits and the way he sometimes walked like he owned the world and everyone in it, but for some reason even he’d started to grow on her. When he was away on business, there was a gap - something missing - and she was so irritated by the fact she noticed it so much.

She bit down on the lolly, the strawberry shards shattering in her mouth, and smiled as Robert passed Aaron a mug of something hot and slid into the space on the sofa, resting his shoulder against Aaron’s. Aaron cradled the mug in his jumper covered hands. He always did that with his sleeves. It made him seem really young, like he needed someone to hug him and tell him things were going to be fine.

The second she felt too much though, it always came hand in hand with this rush of fear that someone would take it all away from her. She wanted to be his little sister for ever. She never wanted to leave.

Maybe they were all a bit of a mess and maybe she didn’t know them all as well as she wanted yet and maybe it shouldn’t work on paper but none of them knew how to do things by halves. Maybe they were all disasters and screw ups; maybe that’s why it worked. She knew she loved Aaron and had done since he fished money for a bus fare out of his pocket, the day she found out he was the brother from those old photos in her mum’s memory box.

“You coming in or are you going to linger like a weirdo out there all night?” Aaron called and she laughed.

“Don’t want to have to sit with you two and watch you all over each other, do I?” She bit her lip and smiled, watching Robert shake his head, ending it with a soft kiss to Aaron’s temple. Aaron shifted a fraction closer and she was done. “You two are gross,” she said, hopping down the stairs with the sweet bucket still in hand and making her way to flop down in the arm chair opposite them.

Aaron was watching her, grinning. “Well, you’re free to put those away and go to bed if you like? I mean, nothing’s stopping you.”

“Don’t tease,” Robert moaned, eyes still fixed on the to screen. Aaron let out a laugh, unleashing the vomit inducing heart eyes for a split second. They really were the worst. 

She scowled, pulling the half eaten lolly out of her mouth with a pop. Robert’s eyes flickered to her and she stuck her tongue out, sharp and cherry red.  
He turned back to the TV and she watched through narrow eyes the smile he tried to bite back.

“Nah,” she sighed, “might as well annoy you two for a bit longer.” 

They sat in silence a while with the sounds of some mind numbing TV show about cars droning on in the background. She could see they both enjoyed it though with Robert making the odd comment quiet and low, close to Aaron’s ear. Aaron would smile back or crumple his forehead in a frown and call Robert a “ponce”. Weirdly, they both seemed to know a lot about cars though with Robert sprouting knowledge about engine sizes or horsepower that rewarded him with Aaron’s eyes all lingering and soft.

She knew most people didn’t get to see them like this. Robert wasn't that that popular in the village and she knew he didn’t have a squeaky clean past but neither, it seemed, did Aaron and he was brilliant. He was funny and gave the best hugs; he nagged her like hell but had told her he’d never leave her and that was the best part. 

She kind of believed Robert too. He was a tougher nut to crack but she had him, she knew she did. He liked her and he’d been there at the court hearing and the funeral and ever since, saving Aaron’s life and always secretly loving her banter. He wouldn’t leave and even if he did, she’d kick his arse and make him see sense. He loved Aaron, it was a little disgusting how obvious it was, but she knew that no matter what happened - no matter how bad - she could go to either of them and they’d be there.

“You’ll give yourself a headache.” She blinked back into the room at the sound of Aaron’s voice.

“Huh?” 

Aaron was staring at her with eyes narrow and amused. "You,” he said with a nod in her direction, “use your brain that much and it’ll go into shock. What you thinking about anyway?”

She frowned, grabbing a sweet and unwrapping it. “None of your business.” She threw it up, catching it in her mouth. 

He scoffed, turning to grab a biscuit from the arm of the sofa by Robert. “Well, seeing as you’re in the mood to chat,” he said wryly, taking a bite with a smile, “I meant to ask if you wanted to go to the bonfire night thing in the village in a couple of days. Could be fun. There’s fireworks and that.”

She watched Robert’s hand play idly with the tassel on Aaron’s hoodie and rolled her eyes. “I’m not going if you two are going to be making eyes at each other all night. Since you got engaged you’ve been more gross than normal.”

Robert rolled his eyes a little and nodded. “Well, I guess I should just eat the toffee apple in the fridge myself then and oh, I don’t know, get rid of the pack of sparklers we bought earlier, eh Aaron?” He raised his eyebrows at Liv. Aaron bit back a grin beside him.

She frowned and turned back to the TV. “You don’t have to get all nasty about it.”

Robert breathed out a laugh and she watched him out of the corner of her eyes dragging the tassel slowly through his fingers. Aaron pressed his lips into a smile, catching her eye and winking. 

She scowled and turned back to the TV, propping her chin on her hand with her fingers covering the edges of a smile.

They were both the worst. 

Gross. And annoying. 

And Brilliant.

**Author's Note:**

> (Also, I've had a couple of messages about certain words or slang I've used in other stories and if you ever need anything clarified, just pop a comment below! I'm from close to where the show is set so I try to keep as much of their words in as I can!)


End file.
